Some Pre Mania Wrestling Talk

Haven’t done this in a bit and we’re almost to Wrestlemania, so let’s play some Fact or Fiction.

1. Despite receiving the big push and judging on what you’ve seen from him, Roman Reigns is the wrong guy to main event WrestleMania 31.

Totally, but I’m not going to bother bitching about the Daniel Bryan thing again. It’s useless at this point. We’re getting what we’re getting no matter how stunningly fucking dumb it is. I have no doubt that Roman can hold up his end of a match, but that’s really not enough when it’s the main event of the biggest show of the year. Nobody wants to see him in this match. Maybe his family, but judging from some of the reactions he gets on TV I’m not even sure about that. When even the crickets are sitting on their hands, you’ve got problems. But it’s not like all those people who paid all that money to go to Mania will sit on their hands like the ones at the TV tapings. You’ve got tens of thousands of people who are ready, willing and able to bitch about the Daniel Bryan thing as loudly as they possibly can. If all of those people sit silently, WWE should count its lucky stars. Poor Roman Reigns is going to get booed out of that building through no fault of his own. Ever since he came back from his surgery, WWE has completely dropped the ball on him. Before he left, they had something. He was going through everybody and seemed like a bit of a bad ass. Now he does silly interviews, has trouble beating Kane and Big Show and they’re booking him like the little engine that could. The big hook that we’re supposed to get behind is “don’t tell me I can’t, because I can and I will”? Where do I give you my money, WWE? Sure he beat up Mark Henry, but so did Lesnar and he did it better. Had they given Reigns time to develop and get some meaningful wins (Rusev would have been a good start) we’d totally have something here, but now all we have is a heel Brock Lesnar who most of the crowd thinks is a gigantic babyface and an actual babyface nobody likes playing tug of war over the belt as the last image we see on the Raw that’s supposed to pump us up for the big day. That was awful, by the way. They’d better have a plan for this, because we could be looking at some kind of disaster here.

2. Adding an NXT event during WrestleMania weekend is WWE’s latest step in trying to kill off independent competition during their biggest weekend of the year.

It is, but why shouldn’t WWE do that? Don’t get me wrong, I love that all those smaller companies can run that week and do big houses, but those big houses only exist because it’s Wrestlemania season and people from all over the world are in town looking for something to do. WWE has every right to run another show for those people, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s an NXT card which could perhaps be every bit as fun as Mania minus the big fancy set.

3. Bobby Roode made the right call re-signing with TNA for another year.

If he’s happy, I’m happy. He’s in a plumb position on the shows, routinely having great matches with people at or near the top of the cards. If they pay him nicely and treat him well in real life, good for him. He deserves it. Why leave the devil you know for the devil you don’t? WWE messes up can’t miss signings all the time. Sometimes it’s better to be a big, well booked fish in a small pond than a “that guy still works here?” dude on a lifeboat in the middle of the world’s largest, most haphazardly slapped together ocean.

4. You are excited that Samoa Joe has reportedly agreed to terms with the WWE.

Until they rename him Ralph Johnson and then job him out constantly before eventually firing him because Vince McMahon doesn’t think he lifts enough weights, absolutely. There are all sorts of people I’d love to see him wrestle in WWE. I just hope they let him do it and be the unique talent that he is.

5. Despite the questionable booking to get there, the Intercontinental Title Ladder match will steal the show at WrestleMania.

Not sure I’m going to go that far, but it should be fun to watch. I like that in a good way, the outcome is unpredictable. I don’t think it’s anybody’s match, but 3 or 4 out of 7 seeming like they have a legitimate shot isn’t bad all things considered.

6. What is your current excitement level for WrestleMania 31?

Ahh, my favourite question again. Mike Johnson actually wrote an interesting article that I can’t find anymore the other day over at PWInsider about this very thing, going over all of the reasons we should be positive. I see where he’s coming from, but he really didn’t persuade me. Yes Sting’s first WWE match is historic, but it’s not lighting my world on fire. I like the guy, but he was never really my childhood hero and I don’t have the sense of nostalgia about him that a lot of people have. Bray Wyatt and the Undertaker seems largely pointless, as I’ve said before. I don’t need to watch Randy Orton get his revenge on the dastardly Seth Rollins, because a couple of weeks ago I saw him beat the living crap out of him for litterally 10 or 12 minutes. It was almost getting to the point where I started wondering if they were trying to pull off a double turn. What odds is Orton overcoming, exactly? The ladder match will be something to see, but it’s what happens to the winner when it’s over that’s really important. I have no faith that the battle royal will mean anything more to the winner this year than it did last year. We’ve already talked about the main event. I’ve probably missed something, but I don’t care to check. I’m just very much not feeling this show. But all of that said, it’s Mania, and that’s still enough to have me kinda sorta looking forward to it. And because it’s Mania and sometimes big things happen when you don’t expect them, I might even be rewarded.

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